Original subtitles

I have to know where Julia is. Please!

If she doesn't accept our offer to emigrate to the west, she'll never be happy again.

I can guarantee you that.

I can't live without Martin. - He's forgotten you, and you know it.

I love you, even if you lose, you got that? - Yes.

Take it!

What did they give Roman? What do the abbreviations mean?

They mean that Roman needs a kidney transplant.

Do you want to have me slaughtered?!

Martin! - Leave me.

She's here. Julia's here! If you'll do it...

I'll make sure she'll get out as quickly as possible and will stay here.

What?

Do you understand? I don't care! Then go in there and finish it.

This is an order, comrade Major!

We've found new evidence. The application for a visa can't be granted.

Goodbye, Miss Hausmann.

What's going on?

Come along.

And? - Everything went well so far.

The two are stable.

Thank you, Juergen.

Thank you.

Martin.

Thank you, Martin. I'll never forget what you did.

You owe me one.

Are you coming along or is this all for me? - I want to thank you.

Thank me? For the pike yesterday or for the eels tomorrow?

What you've done for Roman...

I've done nothing compared to Martin. There are two glasses in there.

And cutlery for two and two plates and our favorite wine.

You really go for it.

What now? Will you invite me in, or do I have to find someone else...

...with whom I'll sail on the lake?

Careful.

Handsome guys... Yours?

For me? - You look as if you could do with it.

Thank you.

I haven't slept much lately.

Roman, my son, he's a sportsman and had a severe accident.

But now he's better, thank God.

Do you believe? - In what?

Ouch, are you nuts?

In God! - Because I've said it? It's just a saying.

Although, during the past weeks, I'd have been glad if I could have prayed.

And you showed it. But not only during the last weeks.

I don't know. You always seem sad, you never seem to be all there.

You never talk about private matters. Do you like being here?

Of course I like being here. I'm here in the day care center voluntarily.

It's no bad thing either.

Relax. In case you haven't noticed, I like you.

I didn't want to teach any more. I think I'm not a good role model.

That's nonsense. The kids love you.

Is this your husband? Not bad.

What does he do?

He's an engineer. Always on the road...

I don't want to talk about him now. Doreen, not so hard!

Excuse me, I didn't want to annoy you.

I wanted to get divorced. But then came Roman's accident and then...

And now...

I don't even know why I'm telling you this.

Divorce? Yes, I'm divorced too.

Maybe there's someone else waiting...

Well, shall we?

Yes, I'm ready. Where's Roman?

He's waiting downstairs in the car. Looks like he tolerates your kidney well.

No, let go.

You shouldn't carry heavy things, Martin. - I'm fine. I'm fine.

I've good news for you.

When? - Already tomorrow.

Everything alright, Martin? - Yes!

A skirt, brown, hand cream, two photos, a box, red...

Contents: A ribbon saying "Anna Hausmann".

Here, sign the receipt.

What are you waiting for? Get on with it.

Go on! You can dream when you're outside.

It looks good, Vera. What do you think?

Everything's well.

Falk and you, you got through this splendidly.

Maybe it's a new beginning.

The cook in my day care center told me about a woman, a psychologist.

She advises married couples and I want to go there with Falk.

But I can't talk to him. He doesn't listen to me.

A marriage counseling?

We're back!

There they are. There they are, Vera!

Roman!

Boy! Nice.

Hello, Martin. - Hello.

Mummy.

Professor Holz says he's an exemplary patient.

Vera said you might go to the technical university? Fine electronics...

I don't know yet, we'll see.

Oh well, you've still got time. First you'll recover now.

I still wanted to say something.

Uncle Martin, I'd like to thank you for...

Here, this is for you.

Thank you.

Good evening, Martin. Well, you're alive again?

Yes. Good evening, Beate.

Martin! Why didn't you tell us that you're dismissed?

Quite a few things have changed during the past weeks.

By the way... It's not what it looks like.

Sure. You're only talking business. - Actually, I'm together with Eva.

But now this here, with Beate... An opportunity.

It simply happened. But don't talk about it! No word to Eva!

Yes, you know... By the way, Beate is still vacant.

Yes, you've just seen her... You don't buy a pig in the poke...

I'm still off sick.

Alright. Then you'll better lie down?

By the way, your car, the Trabant... It's brilliant, works with the brides.

So it was worth it, right?

My mother thinks we should see a marriage consultant. What do you think?

Marriage counseling? What does one do there?

Well, one talks I guess. With some shrink.

After all, you always say we can't talk with each other.

And you'd go there? - Sure, if it helps you...

Falk, this isn't about me, it's about us!

Do you still want to get divorced?

Will you go there with me?

Will you go with me?

Yes, I will. Will you sleep with me again then?

Shit.

Hello, mummy. I'm back.

Lambkin. No one told me.

You're all wet, you're so wet.

Are you hungry?

Come on...

I'll cook dinner. Alright?

I haven't got anything to eat.

But I could open a nice bottle of champagne?

Take off your coat. You look like you're on the run...

They're all autograph cards. I still need to sign them.

My hand hurts already. Yes...

Damned success.

Welcome home, my lambkin!

Could you say something too?

Can I use your bathroom?

What question is that? - I need a towel.

Over there on the right.

Shit...

Please, don't run onto the street... Good afternoon...

Hello, I am... - Great.

Sorry?

You're so smart, so exquisite, as tidy as a seminary. Excuse me.

We've just celebrated a little. Robert Wolff...

Vera Kupfer. I'm working with...

The nice ex-teacher. Nicole's already told me about you. Come in!

Take your coat off. Is this a cake?

Nici! There's cake! Wonderful, we still have to work later on.

Thomas, turn down the music!

Give me the cake, the kitchen is straight ahead. Simply go through.

Black? - Black.

Hello.

Vera, how nice of you. Thomas, get on with it!

I wanted to thank you for the tip. Am I disturbing?

Nonsense.

Because of the marriage counseling? Could you convince your guy?

I'm glad to hear that.

It's no disgrace if one needs help... Only if one refuses to accept it.

We've no secrets here, you know. But we don't tell anyone either.

Nici used to be a teacher too. Did you know that?

In Bitterfeld. - I didn't know that...

Oh well, I have a loose tongue and now I'm here again in Berlin, cooking for the kids.

Hi. - Hello.

Thomas.

I'm Vera, hello.

Pleased to meet you, maybe.

My son. Always polite, always charming.

I didn't know that you had a son...

Oh well, she's ashamed. She thinks it makes her old.

Idiot.

I hate to interrupt you, but we have to go.

Can you help us carrying? It's not far.

With pleasure. - Fine.

I'm taking the ladders. Nici, will you take the rolls?

I lived with my ex-husband in Bitterfeld, that's where Thomas was born.

Isn't he a fine boy?

The best. I can't say that about my ex-husband.

He didn't want a handicapped child, he simply left us.

Bitterfeld, with its contaminated fallow.

And you really believe Thomas is handicapped because of the waste there?

There we are.

The town hall, we have to renovate it. Robert's the priest here.

He didn't tell you?

Are you coming? - Will you help us?

I've forgotten something. I have to go.

What's wrong with her?

Ask her yourself.

Julia?

Don't you want to open?

I'm scared too, Julia...

I received this letter from Hamburg half a year ago.

With your handwriting, forged.

I almost went to the west and you'd have been here and I over there...

But then something happened and now we're both here. You understand?

I'll write down my address, alright?

I've been waiting for you. For 2173 to days.

Julia, stop it, please. - I'm not finished yet.

You've been under the shower for half an hour...

The smell... I have to get rid of it...

And for the third time today... - Go out, please!

You're already red... The water's too hot.

Leave it! Go out! Out!

Mummy, let go, please. Why did you lie to me?

Martin hasn't forgotten me, you've never spoken to him.

All those years I wondered why he had forgotten me. How could this be?

I pulled my heart out! I almost signed the application because you had lied to me!

Do you think this was easy for me? Do you believe that?

I did all this to protect you! I told you over and over again...

Don't get involved with that Stasi family. But you wouldn't...

I trusted you! You were the only person... Why?

We lead a normal marriage. With its ups and downs, no question.

But I simply miss a certain devotion from my wife...

I've already seen a lawyer. Because of the divorce. But our son got ill and...

We've been married for almost 20 years... That means something, doesn't it?

Do you know why your wife wanted to leave you?

I don't. My wife has everything a woman can wish for.

Because there's no more love in our marriage.

What? Sorry? 'No love', Vera! Who was always there for you?

Who endured all your escapades? Yes, the alcohol?

Who wiped away your puke? Who?

And who lied for you when you were so drunk that you...

Sorry, what did you want to say?

Nothing, it doesn't belong here.

Everything that matters between the two of you belongs here.

But it doesn't matter. Or how do you see it, Vera?

No, it doesn't belong here.

What's important is that I always helped you. I was there in all your crises!

But now that you're okay, you want to go. Great!

Mrs. Kupfer, this sounds as if your husband was always there for you. Right?

Yes. - You see?

But he's cold, despising and he hits me.

I hit you?! We want to stick to the truth, Vera!

What is the truth, Mr. Kupfer?

The truth...

What does truth mean?

Do you know what I had to put up with because of my wife?

Yes, it can happen that one...

Are you really trying to tell me that you don't know why your wife wants a divorce?

By fighting for peace and socialism, you have all turned out...

...to be spearheads of the working class.

Today's honoring expresses the consciousness of workers in socialism...

...who not only work for their wages, but consciously strengthen...

...the socialist economy and want to lead to the victory...

...over imperialistic capitalism.

I'd like to thank you for that, also in the name of the party.

The secretary general of the central committee of the SED...

...comrade Erich Honecker, sends his regards too.

Please welcome Dunja Hausmann who'll lead us through this evening musically.

Thank you very much.

How nice, this concentrated happiness. I can hardly cope with it sober.

Where are the men, the true men?

Where is the strength, the pride, the feeling?

The harsh hearts, the strong sayings...

Where have the men gone?

I want a man who knows what he's doing, a savior of everyday life...

One who turns the world for me...

You and your wife, you whisper sweet nothings like a young couple.

Tell me your secret.

Every evening I carry her around the house and then up the stairs.

Oh really? I do the same every evening. With a bottle of brandy, that's fun too.

Excuse me, please.

What are you doing here? Aren't you well?

I'm doing very well. Just like our country!

How did you like my little song? "Where are the men, the true men"?

Where is the strength, the pride, the feeling!

Tell me, where are these men?

You look tired.

Hans Kupfer, the man who makes women happy.

Come on, go home. You're drunk.

Yes, in our imagination we're all perfect.

Come on, come on.

Go away! Get lost! - Come...

Go back to your wife. You're good at that. Get lost.

There she is.

Mrs. Kupfer, I'm really sorry we're sharing the same circles meanwhile.

But you've got your husband under control, don't worry. Good doggy.

Stop it! - I'm not afraid, Miss Hausmann.

That's the difference between the two of us.

Go on then!

Come on! Go to her! Heel! Heel!

Christ set an example. He treated all people equally, never expelled anyone.

He helped those who needed him. The weak, those in doubt.

Every society is based on love. Either the love for each other or for a common goal.

Bye. See you next time.

You dare coming here; right into the lion's den...

That was nice. I'm looking for Nicole, I thought she might be here.

Nicole doesn't go to church. She thinks it's useless.

When she was pregnant with Thomas she prayed a lot. Oh well...

And your son, what's his name? Robert?

Roman.

From what I've heard he got healthy without praying.

True.

So the benefit-cost analysis doesn't look good. Or what do you think?

You're some funny priest, you can't even convert your own friend.

It's much worse: Nicole is my sister. I can't even convert my own family.

You see: I'm absolutely harmless.

Have you got plans for tomorrow evening? We've an event in the town hall...

Event?

A few lyrics, music. We dance. Do you like dancing?

I don't know... I don't think so. Bye.

I think it looks nice if you dance.

Martin, what's going on?

Oh shit.

Hello, Miss Hausmann.

Hello.

Do you still remember our first date? I took you on my bicycle.

You sat at the front and I could smell you all the time.

That's when I knew: 'I want her and no one else'.

I've tried to imagine it all the time.

And I'd really love to, but I can't.

What? - Act as if nothing's happened.

I know. But maybe we can start from scratch.

So many things have happened, Martin.

I've lost our child.

Can you feel this?

Martin, please. - This is us.

Martin! - We belong together, Julia.

Martin!

Mr. Kupfer. We don't have an appointment.

I must talk to you. - Unfortunately, I've no time...

I expect you to stabilize my marriage and not to encourage my wife in her madness.

The couple therapy is there for you to understand where you're really standing.

Namely everybody for themself, and only then as a couple.

You, for example, you have so much fury in yourself.

Is this really only because of your wife?

What does that question mean? - What are you so afraid of?

I'm not afraid.

But my wife will go down the drain without me and I won't admit that.

You'll have to accept the fact that you can't control everything in your life.

Don't try to take Vera away from me. I have...

Mr. Kupfer, I understand your fear...

...but it's not helpful to put me under pressure.

If you don't want to lose your wife, you'll have to change things.

And not in her but in yourself.

Do you like working here? - Yes, but, what...

You've applied for an exit visa eight years ago.

How do you know? - I get around a lot.

I had purely personal reasons. And it was rejected anyway...

Normally you would have been dismissed immediately.

But you were protected because you slept with the right man.

Not a nice story. Do you really want me to warm it up? With all consequences?

What do you want?

Is Julia here? - No.

Miss Hausmann, you can't keep me away from Julia.

When will you finally understand?

What do you know?! Leave my apartment!

Let it be... Don't! - Leave!

Mummy, stop! Leave us alone, please.

Leave it, I'm alright. It'll be gone in a sec.

I found this note in my letterbox this morning. Is this really from you?

Yes, I wrote it.

I don't understand. - What exactly don't you understand?

The fact that it's over... - Yes. That's correct.

No.

Look at me.

I am looking at you.

Do you recognize me?

Yes...

All the time I only wanted to be with you. I refused to leave the country.

And now I'm standing before you and feel nothing. Only fear.

I want to be close to you! But when I'm close to you I can't breathe and panic.

It won't work.

You don't understand!

I'm broken. I'm not like I used to be.

I know.

I know that.

But there's something that no one can destroy: The fact that we love each other.

I want you to go now... Please.

I wouldn't have thought that you'd come.

It's 1987... These are the voyages of the spaceship GDR...

...which has been on a mission with a 17 million crew for 38 years...

...to improve the world, life and civilization.

Many light years away from reality, the GDR goes where no man's gone before.

Attention, attention, spaceship GDR!

Attention, attention, spaceship GDR!

The lakes are poisoned, the rivers black!

Attention, attention, spaceship GDR!

Attention, attention, spaceship GDR!

Where shall I go if I want to breathe freely!

I've had enough because my lung hurts, and my eyes water, although I wasn't sad!

We don't fly to the moon, the moon lies in Bitterfeld.

Only infertile dust, as far as the eye can see. Attention, spaceship GDR!

Attention, attention, spaceship GDR!

Where's Vera?

She's joined a gymnastics group.

Well, from a certain age on, one has to fight gravitation...

Good evening.

Hi Martin... - Come on, sit down!

Yes, dine with us.

No, thanks. I'm not hungry. Falk, could you come for a sec?

What drives you home? You've no dirty laundry. Look, Roman's sent a letter.

What a disgusting guy you are!

Martin, what's all this about? - You've threatened Julia! Am I right?

I have what?

Why doesn't she want to see me anymore? Why is she scared of me?

No idea!

Didn't you promise not to interfere in my life anymore?!

You even promised it on your son's life!

Martin, I haven't...

I'll kill you if you don't leave her alone! - You're crazy, Martin.

What have you done, Falk?

You believe him. Of course. Sure. - Falk, please!

Martin, I'm not responsible for everything that goes wrong in your life.

I'm sorry, maybe you simply have to accept that your Julia doesn't love you anymore!

No idea! I've nothing to do with it.

We talked to doctors in Bitterfeld. It's a fact that the children there...

...suffer exceptionally often from chronic bronchitis and asthma...

...or are severely disabled, like Thomas. The baby's mortality...

One can't allow that, one must do something.

You're naive... The party bigwigs don't give a shit.

Because where they have their Dachas, no fish are dying!

Hello, I'm Frank. - Hello.

What's your name, I've never seen you here? - Vera.

This is Vera, our officially assigned informer from MFS.

This is Frank, he's a little sensitive concerning new visitors.

But if we mistrust everyone, how are we supposed to become...

...more and more people fighting the regime?

Have you been in jail, Robert? Of course not.

You've got the church behind yourself.

But we're standing in the rain if we make a mistake.

I have to go home.

One water. Bye.

Vera.

You needn't take me out. I shouldn't have come here.

It would have been a real pity if you hadn't. Frank doesn't mean it personally.

He was in Bautzen for two years. It shows.

Well, you know where to find us. By the way, this is our environmental journal.

Goodbye. - Goodbye.

Why are you always on his side? It's always been like this. Even though I...

What?

Martin doesn't care. Not about the family, you, or mother.

Everything we've built up here. Not to mention myself.

If he didn't care, he wouldn't have helped your son. You don't see if people love you.

I'm going to bed. - Falk...

Thank you.

For what?

For being there. I know how hard it sometimes is. To be there.

It's me.

Gymnastics took long...

I still had a drink with the others... Only water.

I trust you, Vera...

Towel?

Do you want to?

Like we used to, you remember? I had the cigarettes, you had the lighter.

It was very nice, Vera.

I'll be stiff tomorrow.

Two copies with the order, this always comes on the hanger...

This is for the customer. This is different.

And always everything here in the book. Let's get on.

This is for the dirty laundry.

Here's white, here's colored, here's gentle wash.

Wool! Don't mix it up. - I think I'll manage.

Really? I had quite a few of your kind. They messed up my washing machine.

Customer! Go on then!

Hello, Julia. - How do you know I'm working here?

Your neighbor, Mrs. Ranke told me. - What do you want here?

You know, it's not true what you've said. You're not different.

When I look at you it's like on our first day.

It's just that something's happened.

Something difficult and maybe I can help you cope with it...

What have you got there? - Nothing.

Please, wash it.

But it's not even dirty. - I want it really clean.

You can fetch it on Thursday.

And you too? - No, Martin.

No, there you go! Misses!

This is wool! Wool is on the left!

I only wanted to tell you that I only said it like that with Thursday.

I don't even know how long such a sweater takes.

I also forgot to write the order in the book...

It doesn't matter.

Can you maybe hug me?

Not too hard. That's not possible yet.

The secretary general of the central committee of the socialist party...

...of East Germany, Erich Honecker, and the Chancellor...

...of the Federal Republic of Germany, Dr. Helmut Kohl say that they shall try...

...to improve the dialogue which deals with the concerns of the people...

...in the east and west and are convinced that a long-term...

...stable and lasting peace...

...cannot be reached in Europe by military means alone.